Category: Mac Jones

Patriots TE Hunter Henry impressed with poise of rookie QB Mac Jones

Tight end Hunter Henry is impressed with how Mac Jones has handled things.

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New England Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones has been impressive since he came to the organization. Add tight end Hunter Henry to the list of Patriots who like what they see from Jones.

In talking to the media on Wednesday, Henry noted that Jones had a lot of poise and threw the ball well. Jones had a good first impression on Henry during Week 1, who figures to play a large role in this Patriots offense. The tight end was pleased with how Jones handled the Dolphins’ aggressive front seven.

In addition, Henry feels confident that Jones is going to get better as the season goes on.

“I was really proud of him and how he handled it,” Henry said.” He had a lot of poise and obviously delivered the ball really well, sat in there in the pocket even when the pocket was coming down. He made some big-time throws that sometimes a lot of other guys aren’t going to make, just standing in the pocket and taking hits and different things like that.

“That shows a lot to us, as guys — a guy that’s going to stand in there no matter what and deliver the ball. It was big to see. So he’s only going to continue to get better the more game reps and the more practice reps and all the reps that we take.”

With the New York Jets the next opponent on Sunday, Jones and the rest of the Patriots offense will have an opportunity to bounce back.

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Are the Patriots throwing more at Mac Jones than they did at Tom Brady to start?

“There was a different strategy when Tommy started playing because we were loaded on defense.”

Mac Jones’ path to becoming a starter in the NFL is unprecedented.

The No. 15 overall pick beat out Cam Newton for the role and he’s the first rookie to start under Bill Belichick for the New England Patriots. Even the route he took to fall down to the Patriots in the draft was unlikely. And now, he’s been given the keys to lead the Patriots following an era that consisted of winning and excellence from Tom Brady.

Brady, who’s the greatest player to touch an NFL field, still didn’t have the magnitude of responsibility that’s on Jones’ shoulders when he first became the starter. Former Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss joined WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” Friday morning and explained this in further detail.

“There was a different strategy when Tommy started playing because we were loaded on defense. So the way we played at that time, at least when Tommy first started the year, was very conservative,” Weis said. “We were dinking and dunking, everyone was saying, ‘The guy can’t throw the ball down the field’ because we weren’t throwing the ball down the field. Obviously, the Patriots now are doing a lot more of exposing Mac to everything than we did to Tommy at the start of the year.

“Now, by the end of the year the guy is running two-minute to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, we went a long way from when he first went in there. Mac/the Patriots are ahead of the curve as far as all the stuff they are doing with him already in games where probably it took us half the season before we got there with Tommy.”

Following the much-anticipated Week 1 matchup, Weiss believes the Patriots will continue to add to Jones’ responsibilities.

“I think the philosophy there has always been find out what they can do and do that, and then expand from there,” he said. “I think Josh [McDaniels] and the rest of the staff — Josh, Bill [Belichick] and everyone else — is starting to feel comfortable. ‘OK, these things we know he’s comfortable with. Now we can grow from there.’”

Jones threw 29 of 39 for 281 yards and a touchdown, while converting 11 of 16 third downs in the Patriots’ 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins last week. He was cool and collective while spreading the ball around and he’ll have an easier matchup this week against the New York Jets.

From the looks of things currently — Jones could look like a true seasoned veteran mid-season.

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Josh McDaniels indicates Mac Jones is doing the right things as a leader

“I think that’s obviously the No. 1 way to lead – you show everybody else that you’re going to hold yourself to a very high standard.”

Mac Jones said he doesn’t think he’s being vocal enough with his teammates — that was one of the New England Patriots quarterback’s takeaways from the team’s 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 1.

But it’s also clear that Jones has a habit of being too hard on himself and of taking blame when it’s not entirely due in his direction. So it was interesting to hear what offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels thought about Jones’ comments about ratcheting up his leadership during practices.

“I think as a young player, you earn that right to do that with your teammates,” McDaniels said on Tuesday. “And you earn it through repeated performance, preparation and production. And so, I think he’s a very competitive guy. He wants to win at everything that he’s doing. He wants to perform his best every single day on every single rep. I think that’s a great trait and a great quality to have, not only as a football player but as a human being. We’re fortunate that he feels that way.

“I think relative pushing himself and demanding the most from himself, I think that’s obviously the No. 1 way to lead – you show everybody else that you’re going to hold yourself to a very high standard, and then you’re going to try to bring others along if you see the opportunity to do so.”

Jones used practice as an opportunity to display leadership just last week, with tackle Trent Brown sharing that Jones has repeatedly paused practice after errors to redo the repetition to make sure it is closer to perfect.

“I think he’s a young guy, it’s his first year, it’s his first regular-season game,” McDaniels said on Tuesday. “I think he probably wants to improve in a lot of things, which he has room for growth, and improvement not only as a football player but as a guy who is a leader in the offensive huddle, a guy that has certainly a lot of say in terms of how we’re going to play. So I think he probably was speaking about motivating our group, specifically when he’s with them, to just get the maximum amount out of everybody in whatever we’re talking about – a walkthrough, a practice, a game, a quarter, a series, a drive, a play. So I’m eager to continue to work with him in every area. Like I said, I’m excited that he certainly wasn’t happy with the outcome the other day and is looking forward to preparing hard for the Jets.”

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QB Mac Jones felt he was ‘not good enough’ in NFL debut

Mac Jones indicated that he needed to play better following New England’s loss on Sunday.

Following a difficult 17-16 defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones indicated that he needs to be better.

Jones recorded 281 passing yards on 29-of-39 pass attempt. Recording a 74.4 completion percentage, a 26-yard pass was his longest of the afternoon. His lone touchdown pass was to Nelson Agholor, one  which put the Patriots ahead by a 10-7 margin at the time.

Despite some of the more positive aspects of the day, Jones indicated that he needs to play better if the Patriots want to have continued success this season.

“I think we can get better. That’s just how we have to look at it. Definitely wasn’t good enough, starting with me. So we’ve got to watch the film. We lost, so it’s not good enough.”

With New England set to take on rookie quarterback Zach Wilson and the New York Jets next week, Jones will have an opportunity to redeem himself in what is a wide-open division after the first week of play.

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Watch Mac Jones throw first his touchdown pass of his NFL career

Mac Jones threw the first touchdown pass of his career.

In what has been a defensive battle, New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones did manage to find the end zone for the first touchdown pass of his career. Tossing a seven-yard pass to wideout Nelson Agholor, it gave New England a 10-7 lead at the time.

The touchdown concluded a seven-play 54-yard drive that took 3:36 off the clock. For Jones, the drive ended a series in which he appeared comfortable under center. For Agholor, that was his first touchdown of the season, as New England looks for him to play a big role in igniting their offensive attack.

With Miami putting pressure on the New England defense, Jones may have to throw more than one touchdown pass on Sunday afternoon.

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Patriots fans will have mixed feelings about Skip Bayless’ tweet after loss to Dolphins

By sending this tweet, it’s plausible to assume Skip Bayless didn’t watch the game.

Skip Bayless has some of hottest takes in sports media.

Wild and unpredictable is the only way to label Bayless’ history of tweets about some of the biggest sport moments. Whether it’s his own personal bias, delusion or the desire to rile up fans — Bayless is always stirring the pot with his thoughts.

Following the New England Patriots’ 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins at home, Bayless expressed his opinion. The FS1 host said the Patriots would’ve scored more than 16 points and won the game if Cam Newton was the starter.

“Man, if Belichick can’t beat TUA in the hone opener, he’s got problems,” Bayless tweeted. “I predicted he’d go with Mac Jones and cut Cam — Mac is more Belichick’s style. But I would believe Cam would’ve scored more than 16 today, won this game.”

Newton could’ve scored more than 16 points and the outcome of the game could’ve been much different, but Jones wasn’t the issue. The rookie completed 29 of 39 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown, while converting on 11 of 16 third downs against tough Miami defense.

Four fumbles, two of them lost, and penalties made the difference.

It’s almost as if Bayless didn’t watch the game and interjected with his opinion just to stir up things up.

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Mac Jones threw the most perfect 26-yard pass to James White

Mac Jones threw a perfect pass to running back James White.

As New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones continued to get acclimated to NFL action, he was able to find holes in a stout Miami defense.

Jones was able to find running back James White for a 33-yard pass, dropping the ball over the outstretched arms of Miami Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker. The pass itself gave insight into the quarterback’s accuracy, as well as White’s get separation in the passing game.

In what was a defensive-centrive game, the pass itself was a bit of an outlier, both a big play and an example of aggressive passing. It gave Patriots fans a potential preview of what is to come, even if New England lost, 17-16.

In what was a difficult day to be a quarterback, Jones gave New England  fans something to get excited about.

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Cam Newton says the Patriots ‘are going to win games’ with Mac Jones

Despite the rocky ending, Cam Newton remains objective about the Patriots’ future with Mac Jones.

Cam Newton believes in Mac Jones’ potential with the New England Patriots.

The 32-year-old dropped a tell-all video on Friday with his side of the story following his release from the Patriots. He was interviewed by his father, Cecil, and he answered a few questions that many people have asked about since his departure from the team.

Newton didn’t directly say his vaccination status led to his release, but he didn’t like how the COVID “misunderstanding” played out. He also told the reason why he believes he was released — being a distraction at backup behind Jones.

But, he understands why Jones won the job and he sees success in the rookie’s future.

“They’re going to win football games with Mac Jones,” Newton said.

Cecil said the team would win with Newton at the helm as well.

“That’s a fact, too,” he said. “But, I don’t want the audience to think he’s only saying that just because he’s not there no more. No, like Mac is good enough. I think when they selected him the selection that they picked him, they wanted to find out a couple of things. One of those things they wanted to find out was is he capable of leading this offense to be productive?”

Newton also compared the amount of preparation time he had in 2020 relative to Jones’ five months since the draft.

“That’s five months,” Newton said. “I had five weeks to get prepared for Week 1. Five weeks compared to five months, I was still learning during the season. If you compare and contrast what five months [is], we’re into December to catch up in the thick of the season.”

Newton’s now a free agent and will likely look for a starting role.

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Bart Scott claims the ‘ceiling isn’t that high’ for Patriots QB Mac Jones

“Tell me the last Alabama quarterback who came into this league and took the league by storm.”

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Mac Jones earned an unreal amount of praise throughout the offseason.

The No. 15 overall pick won the starting role over Cam Newton for the New England Patriots following a tremendous preseason — where he finished as the highest-graded rookie quarterback. He has the second-best selling jersey in the entire NFL and his teammates are treating him like he’s a seasoned veteran.

The only thing left for him now is to produce during the regular season. Bill Belichick constructed a team with an elite defense, along with an offense that is perfectly equipped for a rookie — starting with a top-tier offensive line. So, what could go wrong?

Former NFL linebacker and current ESPN analyst Bart Scott doesn’t think Jones will pan out as the player he’s projected to be.

“The growth is going to be stunted for a little while, because the ceiling isn’t that high for Mac Jones,” Scott said on ESPN Radio’s ‘Bart & Hahn’ show, transcribed by WEEI. “When you get an Alabama player, you get a player who’s pro-ready, but a player who’s close to being pretty much who he’s going to be, because he’s going to get tremendous coaching, he’s going to have tremendous football acumen. Tell me the last Alabama quarterback who came into this league and took the league by storm.”

While history isn’t on the side of Alabama quarterbacks, Jones appears to be special. He was patient, learned from those before him (Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts) and went out when his time was ready with record-breaking performances. Jones finished last season with 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and only three interceptions in a year that Alabama won the national championship.

He defied odds by beating out Newton this season and his trajectory is sky-high currently. Of course, Alabama doesn’t have a great track record. But, Jones is proving every day that he can be the exception.

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Mac Jones reflects upon following in Tom Brady’s footsteps

Mac Jones is looking to follow in the footsteps of Tom Brady.

As rookie Mac Jones gets set to start against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, he is well aware that he is playing a role similar to a former Patriots legend.

With Jones looking to be the future for the Patriots at quarterback, the Tom Brady comparisons have already begun. In speaking to the media on Wednesday, Jones discussed those comparisons. Brady was one of the many New England quarterbacks that Jones watched on film when he got to New England.

Now, Jones is looking to create a path of his own. Even still, he notes that Brady set the standard for Patriots quarterbacks.

“I think, obviously, he’s a great player,” Jones said. “The word ‘standard’ kind of hit me there because we all want to play to that standard, ‘The Patriot Way.’ Really, it comes down to just doing your job, so as a quarterback that’s leading the people around me as best as I can and that’s also executing the plays. …

“He definitely did a good job. When I first got here, just watching tape, I’ve watched all the quarterbacks. Obviously, he was on there and he did a really, really good job and hopefully I can do a good job too.”

For Jones, it all starts on Sunday, as he begins his quest to etch his own name in Patriot lore.

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